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After our morning in Bryce Canyon, we got ready to drive to Moab, Utah where we were meeting Wanda and David to spend the night. We plugged our destination into Wanda and David's cars built in GPS and were given two options: 1. Take one interstate to another and arrive at our destination in approximately 6 hours, OR 2. take some roads that we couldn't even see on the GPS until they were highlighted by our route. Well, we took the latter. 
What we didn't know is if we would end up on 400 miles of dirt roads, if there would be any towns, gas stations, cell phone signals, etc. Well, it turned out we had great wide open roads and nothing else. I think this was the funnest day we have ever had as a family.
We watched the landscape change from dry, grassy farm lands to rocky hills and mountains. It really is a beautiful state!
We passed this big old abandoned barn right on the side of the road. I thought it would be awesome to get some photos of it from some really cool angles. Completely blog worthy! Well, this was the only picture I took before I noticed something wiggling on the ground a few feet from me.
I'm not usually all that intimidated by animals, including snakes. But, then again I don't see rattlesnakes all that often either. I was on the outside of the car and Joey and Jeremy were on the inside with the windows rolled up... and Mr. Snake was about three feet away between me and the car. My first thought is that if this thing decides to strike I want Joey to at least be aware of what is going on... so I yell, "Hey Joey!" He doesn't look. I screamed a few more times before Jeremy glances at me and goes back to his itouch movie. (Darn those itouches!) I'm starting to get a little worried, and while this feels like several minutes I'm guessing that it was only 30 seconds or so. Jeremy finally sees me, his crazy mother waving and screaming... and FINALLY sees the snake (which is about 3 feet long by the way) and he starts quietly whimpering in the back. YES, Joey hears that! He looks out and finally sees me. I guess, I could have been in the car by this time, but well, this is a rattlesnake and I'm not moving until I know Joey is going to see me. I get in the car, take a deep breath and ask Jeremy if he is OK. He burst into tears because he was scared "the snake was going to bite the tires of the car!" So much for anyone worrying about mommy, huh? I found out later that this is a Mojave rattlesnake that is extremely venomous and "possibly one of the most aggressive snakes in the Southwest." I'm so glad he was feeling a little lazy that day!
Anyway, onto the rest of our journey. We passed a hitchhiking calf who was also out to see the world. I wanted to stop and try to help it get back home... Joey didn't stop.
I love reading the signs for small towns, I think Antimony is one of the smallest towns we have seen with a population of 168.
These are called Indian's Paintbrushes. They are some of my favorite flowers in the west! 
Quaking Aspen trees are both Joey and my favorite trees. The white bark is just so cool! I would grow my own forest if I could!
This was at the summit of a mountain somewhere.... I think it was at an elevation of about 9,000 miles. 
I thought this was funny.... I wonder what it was the last chance for. 
We finally made it to a little stretch of Interstate before getting to Moab and I really liked this area by a rest area. It was great to get out and stretch our legs and let Jeremy play Indiana Jones for a few minutes. 
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